Alive Again
by Badkitty1221
Summary: "Danny you have to stop! You can't keep leaving gifts and notes in my locker!" "Lacey," he replies reaching for her out of instinct even though he knows he shouldn't. It's the first time she's spoken to him in weeks. "No, stop! I'm trying to move on. You can't keep doing this,"
1. Chapter 1

"Danny you have to stop! You can't keep leaving gifts and notes in my locker!"

"Lacey," he replies reaching for her out of instinct even though he knows he shouldn't. It's the first time she's spoken to him in weeks.

"No, stop! I'm trying to move on. You can't keep doing this," she says taking a step back, instantly regretting walking up to him in the empty hallway. "We can't be together. I don't trust you. I can't trust you because I know you're hiding things from me."

"Lacey I understand that, but I can't tell you everything. I can't tell anyone. It has nothing to do with us. Don't let it get between us." He stares into her eyes pleading with her. "Please Lace."

She feels her defenses crumble and that when she knows she has to leave.

"No Danny. Just stop." It takes everything in her to walk away, but she manages it and heads straight out the entrance of the school with her head held down as she rushes through the now not so empty hallways. She can feel the tears coming and knows that if she can just make it to her car she'll have some semblance of privacy in which to shed them.

It's been weeks since she broke off her relationship with Danny. The break up had taken place in their childhood clubhouse after an especially trying day. At the time, the pain had been deep. Deep enough that it felt like her heart had ceased beating and her lungs were no longer functioning.

Instead of easing with time the pain just seems to worsen. Lacey does her best to avoid him both in and out of school, but in a town as small of Green Grove there is only so much she can do. With each glimpse of him in the hallway or at Johnny Cakes with Jo and Rico she can feel her resolve weakening.

"Just take him back. He loves you and you love him. Nothing else should matter," a small voice says in the back of her head, but that isn't true. Murder isn't a small thing, and she can't possible give herself to someone capable of that, especially if he's willfully lying to her. Except it's not exactly a lie, just an omission of the truth. But that's the same thing isn't it?

She's tired of thinking about it, and once her tears have stopped flowing and her breathing has evened out, Lacey starts up her car and heads home. She's skipping out on her last two classes of the day, but she needs to get out of there. She wouldn't be able to handle another confrontation with Danny, if one arises. For the most part he has been a gentleman and respected her request for space. It's just those notes and gifts that he insists on leaving in her locker that make the situation that much more difficult.

After pulling into her driveway, Lacey gathers her things and goes up to her bedroom.

"Sleep, that's what I need," she says to herself as she exchanges her school clothes for pajamas and gets into bed. Thankfully no one is home, and Lacey is able to cocoon herself in the comfort of her bed without her mother questioning her about her early arrival home.

Surprisingly Lacey is able to fall asleep (maybe being in his presence, even for a moment to argue, has calmed her soul enough for her body to find some pretense of rest no matter how fitful). She's awakened to a pounding on her front door. Disoriented she stumbles down the stairs to the door and opens it without checking who the visitor maybe.

"Danny," she smiles not remembering in her half-asleep state that she shouldn't be happy to see him. "Danny," she repeats more forcefully fully coming to herself. "What are you doing here? Just because I walked up to you in the hallway today doesn't mean you can come to my house."

"I know, but I'm tired of this. Of being without you," he says standing at the door with his hands braced on either side ready to stop her if she tries to slam it in his face. "We should be together Lace. Stop pushing me away." The pleading from before has returned to his eyes, but this time Lacey has nowhere to run. He's blocking the only barrier between them, and she very well can't run into the house leaving him at her front door. She knows that he'd only follow her away.

"Please Lace," he repeats taking off where he left earlier. "I need you in my life." He takes a step forward, effectively crossing the threshold of the house and invading her personal space in one bound.

Lacey smells his cologne, stares into his eyes, feels the heat of his body next to hers, and knows that if she doesn't find some way to put space between them she'll circum to his charm. She takes a step back, but just as she predicted he follows her with his own step forward, in the processing kicking the front door shut. She feels well and truly trapped when her back hits a wall after taking several steps back. He follows her the entire way.

Danny smirks raising his arms to either side of her head. "You can't keep running from me Lacey-"

"Shut up!" she says cutting off his sentence first with her words then with her lips as she gives into her body's desires.

Lacey feels alive again at the first touch of their lips. Gone is the perpetual fog that hung over her head in the weeks since their break up. Her heart beats rapidly and her lungs expand as if filling with air for the first time. He's in her arms and she is alive.

Just as they settle into the kiss, with Lacey circling her arms around his neck and Danny running his hand along her side raising her shirt with each caress, they hear a car horn honk outside the house. Lacey pulls back, but Danny doesn't allow her to push him away.

"That might be my mother. You have to leave, Danny!" She says glaring but allowing him to caress her face.

"I'm not leaving until you promise to talk to me. I want more than just this Lacey," he stares at her intently stilling his hand on her face.

"I do too," she says hesitantly staring back at him wishing she could read his mind, "but we can't do this now!" Lacey swears she hears her mother walking down the path that leads to their front door.

"Meet me at the clubhouse later," he says slowly removing his hands from her body. "Promise me."

"I promise I'll meet you. Just text me when you get there," she says taking his hand. "You have to go out the back door." She leads him to the back of the house where he kisses her one more time before escaping out into the backyard.

Lacey waits in the kitchen for her mother to announce her arrival. After several minutes in which the house remains silent and empty, except for her presence, she realizes that it was a false alarm. Her mother isn't home. Danny could have stayed. She laughs to herself exhilarated by Danny and the thought of almost being caught.

"It's probably for the best that he left," she thinks heading back to her room with a smile on her face. Her heart is still beating rapidly in her chest (though it has slowed since Danny's departure) and her lips tingle from his last kiss. She tries to stop smiling, to recall all the reasons why they shouldn't be together, but all she can remember are the feel of his lips, the warms of his arms, and the love she thinks she sees in his eyes.

She's back under her covers when she hears her cell phone go off. She has a text message, and it's from Danny.

_Meet me at the clubhouse at 9. I'll be waiting for you._

Her smile grows bigger. She doesn't know if she's ready to start up with him again, but if just one kiss from him, one moment with him can make her feel this good then maybe she can overlook a few of his omissions of truth. At least for now…


	2. Chapter 2

He already has a fire burning in the pit by the time she reaches the clubhouse. Lacey is running late. It's more than a quarter past nine. As mundane as it sounds, she couldn't decide on what to wear for their rendezvous. This night feels special, different from their other meetings, and she wanted to dress accordingly. "You know the last time the three of us came here I called infinity on lighting the fire pit," she says in lieu of a standard greeting. Danny smiles as he stands from the log he was sitting on. "I'll remember that for next time." He looks down then back up at her, vulnerability softening his eyes. "I thought you weren't going to show up."

"A promise is a promise," she says rocking on her heels a bit with her hands in her pockets. She smiles trying to keep the atmosphere light for as long as she can manage. Being in his presence has improved her mood, her being, considerably and she wants to hold onto that while she can. There's already a cloud hanging in the horizon of her consciousness, a foreboding feeling that tells her the night may not end the way she hopes.

"Sit down," he gestures to a spot close to him and she heads in that direction, their bodies grazing one another when she passes. She controls her baser instincts and settles into the makeshift seat with grace when what she really wants to do is mold her body to his and take.

"So you wanted to talk," she says bouncing her leg. She feels packed with energy, her body buzzing in ways it hasn't since their break up. It's quite a change from the constant state of lethargy of the past few weeks. She's not a fidgety, twitchy person, but at this moment in his presence she becomes one.

"Relax," Danny says taking her hand in his, with a smirk, and pulling it onto his lap. Just like that she does. The smile returns to her face, though she hadn't realized it left.

"I want us to be together Lacey," he stares into her eyes intensely, cutting right to the chase and willing her to agree with him. The smirk is replaced with an earnest expression that speaks to the sincerity of his words.

"I do, too, Da-," she begins but just then every reason why they shouldn't be together comes crashing down on her, at once haltering her words. She couldn't recall them before, but now they're back with startling clarity. "Danny you've been lying to me since you came back to Green Grove!" She tries to detach her hand from his but he won't let go. "You killed your aunt, Danny, and you won't tell anyone, not even me, why! Everyone thinks you killed Regina! I know you didn't poison Cole," she states her voice and eyes beginning to soften at the devastated expression on his face. "I know you didn't do that, but what about the rest of it Danny? You need to tell me everything for this to work."

"I know," he says looking away briefly to steel himself. "I realize that now. That's why I invited you here. I want to tell you everything… but you have to promise to hear me out first. Don't run away without hearing it all." He wants to say something playful to lighten the mood. Maybe mention her stellar track skills in regards to their relationship, but he doesn't. This is too serious a conversation for that.

Lacey nods her head almost wishing she hadn't agreed to this meeting when she feels his hand tighten around her own. Her stomach gives a painful twist and she has to force her legs still to stop from running. He hasn't even told her anything yet and her body already wants to flee.

Once Lacey agrees to his terms, Danny takes a deep breath turning away to look into the fire. "I don't think my dad is dead, Lace. I think he's alive and trying to frame me for Regina's murder."

"That's crazy, Danny. Of course your dad is dead. How could he have faked his own death? And even if he did why would he frame you for Regina's murder? It doesn't make sense." She tries to catch his eyes with her own, but he won't look at her.

"Just listen, Lacey. The morning after Regina's murder I found something in my locker… it was Regina's necklace. The same one my Aunt Tara wore when she was alive. I've had it this whole time," Danny bows his head waiting for the onslaught of her outrage. When nothing comes he turns to look at her. What he finds is worse than outrage.

Lacey is stunned into silence. There are tears in her eyes and it looks like she's stopped breathing. Her devastation is palpable in the air. After a moment, that feels like eternity, she lifts her eyes to look at him. That's when she redoubles her efforts to detach her hand from his. "Let go of me, Danny!"

"Lacey wait!" He tightens his grip, practically pulling her into his lap. "Stop pulling away from me! I didn't kill Regina! I didn't kill my Aunt Tara! I didn't kill anyone, Lacey!" His shouted confession stops her struggle.

"What?"

"I didn't kill my aunt. My father did. I saw the whole thing. That afternoon you and Jo were over and we were all playing outside. I went in to use the bathroom, and I walked in on them arguing. She was saying that she was going to tell everyone… tell everyone that he was sleeping with Tess behind my mother's back," he pauses at her widened eyes. "She also mentioned your dad Lace. He's an accountant right?" At her nod he continues, "She said something about him cooking the books… that your dad was helping him steal, that she would turn them both in and they would rot in jail. That's when he just snapped… he started hitting her and then he picked up Jo's jump rope and wrapped it around her neck…" He trails off unable to finish that sentence. They're both silent for a moment, reliving the trauma of that day.

Lacey breaks from her trance first; studying Danny's hunched over form. She's never seen him like this, this broken fragile boy needing to be hugged. Danny's always been put together, falling back on sarcasm or quick wit when he wasn't okay.

There are trails of tears on either side of his face that Lacey quickly goes to wipe away. She wraps her arms around him, trying at a full body hug despite their awkward position seated next to one another.

"I'm sorry, Danny." All those years they, she, thought he was a monster capable of killing his own family member. In reality he was a scared boy conned, but his own father, into taking the blame for a crime he didn't, couldn't, commit. "I'm so sorry, Danny. I wish there was some way I could make this all better for you."

He pulls back from their embrace to look her. "Just be here, Lace. Don't leave."

"I won't," she says ghosting her lips against his. She hugs him again because that seems to make him feel better. She doesn't know what to say to improve the situation, but this she can do. She can dry his tears and hug him close to her body, silently willing her love and positive thoughts in his direction.

They remain like this for a long while, eventually moving to a more comfortable position on a blanket Danny lays out on the ground. They're so engrossed in one another that they don't notice the rising sun, signifying the start of a new day.


End file.
